TRADE5 $5 sale

today (sept 18) thru sunday (sept 20) the trade-a-holics team is having a $5 sale!

just search etsy for the term "TRADE5" to see all the stuff we have marked down for just $5!

here are just some of the lovely items on sale now in my shop:





and there's more - check it out before the sale is over!

♥E

i held my breathe and..

i got an etsy treasury! holy cow! for the first time ever! i was on craftopolis.com and on there they have a really neat feature called the "treasury clock", which counts down to when the next time the treasury will be open. i saw it approaching, went there, and got one!

you should check it out:

i'm lovin the pink, i mean, it is my favorite color and all :)

♥E

Thirsty Thursday

tonight we're headed to a baseball game and the theme is "thirsty thursday". in this spirit, here are some great etsy finds:

Drinking Glass beer Bottles, Rolling Rock Recycled Glassblowing, Eco Friendly by nickpaul

Let's Drink Fill In Invitations by tuccipaperco


Coca Cola, Pepsi, Soda Pop Bottlecap Images by beffyfaye


"I love beer" pillow by sewhome


Colorful Bottles - 5x7 Fine Art Photograph Print by YSLstudio


Mojito Cold Process Soap SALE ONE DOLLAR OFF by SpiralTreeSoap

yep, some good stuff here. tonight is gonna be fun, and i am glad tomorrow is a day off :)

♥E

HomeStudio: scrabble tile pendant

the other day on etsy, i came across the shop HomeStudio who makes these awesome little pendants from scrabble tiles! while there were, like, a million i wanted to purchase, i limited myself to 4 (they have special 3 and 4 pack deals!), one for myself, and three to give as gifts.

pick in the gifts was the easy part, but for myself, not so much. i realized i really wanted a sewing machine. so i convo'd the shop, and Mark there promptly convo'd me back saying that he had a b/w antique-y looking one that he could do. perfecto!

check it out:


if you order the pendant with a chain, it comes with a ball chain, but i put mine on a box chain i already had:
thanks Stef and Mark at HomeStudio! (i litereally wear this everyday!)

♥E

50 Best Websites: in love with etsy!

OMG - thanks Diana for finding this great video about BROOKLYNRehab and Etsy today on time.com's 50 Best Websites:



til next time...
♥Elisa

remember that To Do List?

the Toot Sweet relaunch is coming, and no one is more excited that yours truly! so remember that list of stuff i had to do before i could relaunch? let me jog that memory of you (teal=completed with notes, pink=still need to get to that):

♥ make a new lightbox - bigger, better, more kitten-proof! i'm thinking either one like this or like this. then take new pics of the inside of my bags.
→ Done and Done. see the results here and here. (the second link is to a listing that includes a pic of the inside of the bag. i did this with all of my bags.)

♥ order new business cards with my new motif
→ Done! check out my new motif on the banner at the top of my blog, and if you bump into me on the street (or purchase from me) you'll get to see how the business card turned out! (thanks to HappyDayGraphics for designing my new motif!)

♥ go thru my whole sewing room and organize, label, purge old stuff
→ Done! i should have taken before shots, because if i post after shots now, they are pretty meaningless, but nonetheless here's a rundown of what i did: donated all fabrics i will not use, sorted all notions into bins, labeled everything, switched my full-sized ironing board for an over-door model (clears a huge area in the room!), and reorganized inventory.

♥ promote! advertise in local coffee shops and businesses, plus post on other etsians' blogs. and tweet tweet!

♥ revamp the format of my listings and tags and the way i list items - i'm thinking database

♥ offer free shipping!! woo hooo!!
→ Done! check out my shop to cash in on this!

♥ photo-swatch each of my available fabrics and upload to my flickr.com fabric site- this will make choosing fabrics for custom bags super-easy!
→ Done! check it out here.

and here's a few more i thought of:

♥ design care instructions, shipping labels, order forms, and coupons and have printed.

♥ get all books in order. this will be a big task!

alright, looks like i have the rest of my work cut out for me!

♥E

reduce - reuse - recycle - ship!

as you know, i got married recently, and we were very blessed to have received many beautiful gifts from our doting friends and family. we registered at both macy's and bed, bath, and beyond. i tell you this not because we have an incomplete registry (you know you've been stocking up on those bb&b 20% off coupons!) but because it leads into my weekend craft project for tootsweet.

"crafts??" you say, "but i thought tootsweet was about sewing purses and whatnot..??" well, my dears, it is. BUT being the recycling waste-not-want-not fool that i am, i saved ALL of the beautiful purple paisley swirly wrapping paper that our gifts came wrapped with, in hopes of doing something fabulous with it. (i mean, look at it, how could i not??)

and i came up with....BUBBLE MAILERS!! that's right, it's simple, it's easy, it's sooo pretty! and here's how you can do it at home too:

1) collect your supplies:

that's bubble wrap, spray adhesive, scissors, wrapping paper, and brown scrap paper to spray on (plus you should do this in a well ventilated area. i did it on my back lanai)

2) be sure to have a friend to pop the extra bubble wrap for you :)

3) cut a piece of bubble wrap approx. 16 inches by 24 inches. lay that out on the wrapping paper and cut the paper such that there is a one-inch perimeter around the bubble wrap.

4) spray the back side of the wrapping paper with the spray adhesive.

5) place the bubble wrap in the center of the wrapping paper. carefully press it down - don't pop any of the bubbles!

6) fold the paper/bubble wrap fusion in half, bonding three sides of the paper perimeter.

7) be sure to leave one side open so you can stuff it for mailing!

8) cut the edges flush for a cleaner look.

9) voila! cute and pretty REPURPOSED bubble mailers!

hope this help spark your creativity :)

♥E

Handmade Wedding Part II: Bridesmaid gifts!

so it's time for my next edition of my diy wedding - bridesmaid gifts!

of course, a gift made with my hands is much more from my own heart than something bought from a store. now, this may not be the case for you, but my friends know me well enough that it would have been weird for them to receive a gift that wasn't handmade (they have gotten many over the years, some a little too "creative" to be considered cool).

i decided to go a somewhat trendy route and made each of them a "wedding day survival kit". it consisted of:

a heart-felt thank you note :)
1 large tote beach bag (that i embellished with each girl's monogram)
1 bottle of watter
1 back of chips
1 granola bar
1 "airplane bottle" of their fave spirit
1 pair of flip flops
1 handmade makeup bag, containing: mouthwash, lip gloss, hand sanitizer, Q-tips, safety pins, bobbie pins, and lotion


i made each girl the make up bag in a color/pattern scheme that i knew they would love. i even made my friend P's with a remnant from the skirt i had made for when i stood in her wedding. ::tear::


the girls loved these, and i loved that i could give them something that i made with love :)

♥E

Toot Sweet Re-Launch is coming...

i've decided to re-launch my shop on etsy! how exciting, right? i'm moving towards more of a design-your-own-bag type of shop, with add-ons and customizations. i am going to offer my best-selling designs, and YOU will be able to customize each to your liking!!

so here we go - new beginning, new start, new list of things to do!

♥ make a new lightbox - bigger, better, more kitten-proof! i'm thinking either one like this or like this. then take new pics of the inside of my bags.

♥ order new business cards with my new motif

♥ go thru my whole sewing room and organize, label, purge old stuff

♥ promote! advertise in local coffee shops and businesses, plus post on other etsians' blogs. and tweet tweet!

♥ revamp the format of my listings and tags and the way i list items - i'm thinking database

♥ offer free shipping!! woo hooo!!

♥ photo-swatch each of my available fabrics and upload to my flickr.com fabric site- this will make choosing fabrics for custom bags super-easy!

i'm sure there is more, but this is quite the list, eh? so visit back and i'll let you know how i'm doing, while posting about some fun projects along the way :)

♥E

Etsy For Charity!

recently while shopping, i have come across quite a few shops that give at least a portion of their proceeds to charity. some i have already partaken in, but there are a bunch out there that need representation. so here's what i'm gonna do. i'm setting up a sidebar item dedicated to Etsy shops that give to charity. check back often to see the latest adds!

if YOU are an Etsy shop that donates part of your proceeds to charity, please contact me so i can add you!

♥E

Press Alert!

more press, y'all!

mini-mocs has mentioned my Hawaii Holdall on their blog as a fab escape from the winter blues in Michigan, where they are located.

here's a screenshot:


thanks! :)

♥E

Proud Day

i made it to the front page of ESTY!

it wont be there for much longer, so here is a screne shot:
mine is the top row, center - the Necktie Belt. something about that, eh?

<3E

Buy Toot Sweet! on Etsy.com

Announcing...online shopping for Toot Sweet products!

I've opened up shop on etsy.com. There, y'all can find all of my products that are currently for sale, as well as request a custom made handbag or other item. Also, go poke around the site and check out the other sellers there - these are really talented crafters and artisans that all have their work for sale.

<3E

A Big Decision

Happy New Year!

Along with all of the rest of my Healthful resolutions, I have made a Big Decision: instead of pursuing the craft fair circuit, I am going to set up shop on Etsy.com. For those of you that don't know, Etsy is basically an online craft fair community. As a seller, I have a webpage (my Etsy shop) where I can list items for sale, and receive requests for custom work through their Alchamy system.

This is going to take me a few days to get set up, but I'll be up and running soon!

<3E